The Walking Dead: Dead of Winter
by SuperNovaeHollay
Summary: Following the events of Clementine and Kenny's meeting with the Cabin Group and their narrow escape from the hands of a madman, the two survivors are left in charge of looking after a newborn baby. As the three await their time to enter the fabled haven known as Wellington, surviving the merciless winter of Northern America, will be anything but easy. Kenny, Clem, AJ, and OC's.
1. Episode 1: Chapter 1 The Long Haul

**Episode 1: On the Fence**

**Chapter 1: The Long Haul**

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

It was slightly satisfying, hearing the crunch of the snow beneath her feet. Clementine thought this to herself as she shuddered, with teeth chattering and her whole body shivering. She was almost numb, but she couldn't think about that, if she focused on the crunch of the snow beneath her feet, she wouldn't be so worried about that fact that her toes and fingers were numb from the cold, wet snow.

"I can't believe this . . ." Clementine's companion, Kenny snarled quietly. "Two months of waiting and a two day long hike out here, and we get turned away . . . _Again_."

She huffed out, watching as her warm breath left a steamy cloud of air which floated away in a matter of seconds. "At least they gave us more supplies . . ." Clementine added, trying to cheer Kenny up, even just a bit. "They did tell us about the other camp, maybe we could try and find it?"

"Yeah, the supplies are nice, but a weeks' worth of supplies ain't gonna do us much good if we freeze to death, Clem. And even if this other camp they're talkin' about exists, we'd never make it there with the weather being how it is . . ." Kenny sounded a little less angry now. Maybe her words had worked, or maybe he was just too tired and cold to make much more of a deal about it all.

"Maybe we can check back next month?" Clementine added after a few moments of silence. Her hand holding onto the duffle bag full of supplies had grown numb, almost frozen in the shape of its tight grip it held on the straps.

"I'm afraid it's gonna be too cold by then Clem." Kenny added a bit more saddened this time. "It's too dangerous, if we get caught in a blizzard, or one of us gets hurt on the way there . . ." Kenny went silent.

Clementine looked up at the man. His greying beard and tangled hair were covered in snow flakes and frozen over it looked like. He was holding AJ in his arms, holding the now two month old baby closely to himself. Kenny had more body heat to share with AJ, so he'd been doing most of the holding onto the two month old. He also had a backpack on, a big backpack they'd been lucky enough to find in a cabin they'd been inhabiting for the past two months. Not only that, but they'd been lucky enough to find some new clothes that were good enough to fit them as well in the cabin.

Clementine suddenly lurched forward, letting out a yell as she fell, almost face planting into the icy hard snow. She felt a tug on her ankle, and panicked for a moment. Her thoughts immediately turned to thinking that a walker had grabbed her. She turned quickly to look at the ground, and saw her foot sunken into an impression in the ground hiding beneath the blanket of hard snow.

"Clem!" Kenny was quickly at her side, grabbing her arm as he pulled her up. "You alright?"

"Yeah . . . I just . . ." Clem shivered with wobbly legs as she recovered from her brief moment of panic. She inspected her ankle, and saw nothing wrong with it. "Tripped . . ."

"You gotta watch your step darlin'." Kenny scolded her softly, he patted down the snow off her jacket before it melted and she became soaking wet. Thankfully it hadn't been snowing much the past few days, and their clothing had remained relatively dry.

"Do you think we're almost back at the cabin?" Clementine asked, trying to change the subject. Her fear was beginning to turn into embarrassment.

"The cabin's not much further, we'll be there soon Clem." Kenny answered. He still had a hand placed on her back as they began to walk. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine Kenny." Clementine answered firmly. She quickened her pace.

Kenny let out a slight huff of amusement, as he quickened his pace as well to match the stubborn girl's.

Silence settled between them, and the crunching of the snow beneath their feet seemed to echo in the flat field of snow. It sounded incredibly loud, and Clem hoped no walkers would be around to hear them. At least the snow did a good enough job of keeping most of the dead away. Finally it had become cold enough for the walkers to become either completely submersed under a thick blanket of snow, or frozen solid and made immobile by the freezing rain that hardened them wherever they were.

"Clem . . ."

Clementine heard Kenny's usually rough voice behind her was now soft. She turned slightly. "What is it Kenny?"

Clem looked at the man, his face seemed a bit saddened. His head was hanging low, and his one eye was staring down at the ground. "Clem, you two should've stayed . . . you and Alvie. You two should've stayed in Wellington."

Clementine felt her stomach lurch. She furrowed her brow as she looked away. She knew that maybe she should have, she'd have a better chance at surviving and so would AJ if they stayed in Wellington. But that would mean Kenny would be out here, all alone. With no one. Clementine knew what that meant, especially after what had happened to them two months ago. They'd lost everything, Christa, Luke, the entire Cabin group, Walter and Sarita, they'd lost everything again back then. She couldn't bear the thought of leaving Kenny alone, after everything that had happened. She couldn't bear being alone in Wellington, all by herself with AJ . . .

"You'd be safer there Clem . . . You and Alvie both." Kenny began. This wasn't the first time he'd pulled this speech on her. It wasn't even the second or the third. "Clem, we can go back? Its fine . . . Really Clem, I'll take y'all back, and you two won't have to worry about me. I'll be at the cabin, and if things go bad . . ."

"No." Clementine silenced the man before he could go any further. "I meant it then, and I mean it now."

Kenny sighed.

Silence once again settled between them. Clementine was sure Kenny was thinking about what he could say to change her mind. Sometimes, it made Clem wonder if she really should stay at Wellington, but then, what about him?

After what felt like hours of marching, the two were finally getting closer to the cabin. It was close, Clementine could tell. Kenny had made sure to try and get Clem oriented with the area surrounding the cabin. Just in case she ever got lost or needed to go out, he'd shown her what signs and natural markers to look for that would help her orient the area. They were nearing the arched wooden bridge over the frozen stream that separated the cabin's plot of land and the wide open stretch of snow covered plains with a tree line leading into a forest densely littered with pine trees. They crossed it, their heavy feet pounding on the wood with each step.

After crossing the bridge, Clementine focused her gaze off in the distance, looking out as her heart fluttered at the sight of the cabin. "Thank God . . ."

"Almost there . . ." Kenny sounded as if he was barely masking the exhaustion and relief in his voice, "Just hold out a bit more Alvie, soon we'll be sittin' ourselves up next to a nice big fire, and have a nice warm meal." Clementine looked back as Kenny spoke to AJ, looking down at the child as he spoke. Clementine smiled. If anything, AJ had brought Kenny out of his depression, and as long as Kenny and Clem had AJ to worry about, they could keep themselves focused and going. More Kenny than Clementine.

Clementine looked back towards the cabin, but felt Kenny's hand suddenly latch onto her shoulder. He jerked her back stopping her in her tracks. She looked back up at him, seeing his gaze fixed on the ground. Clementine looked down as well, and gasped.

"Those are-"Clementine began.

"Shhh!" Kenny cut her off, pulling her back behind him. They began to back away from the set of tracks in front of them, three pairs of what appeared to be human tracks had trekked through the snow and seemed to lead up towards their cabin. Kenny frantically began to snap his head back and forth, seemingly looking for something. "Looks like somebody found our cabin while we were out."

"Do you think they might be bandits?" Clementine asked quickly. She huddled behind Kenny.

"I don't know hon'." Kenny began, "Clementine, get over back to the bridge."

They hurriedly and as quietly as they could in the hard, crunching snow and with a baby and a duffle bag full of supplies, made their way back to the bridge. There was just enough room underneath the bridge that Clementine could wedge herself underneath it with the duffle bag and even AJ, though Kenny was a different matter.

"Clem take Alvie." Kenny carefully handed AJ to Clementine as she huddled underneath the bridge, placing the duffle bag behind her. She took the growing baby in her arms, as he made a few quiet cries of discomfort from being separated from the nice, and warm body of the grown man. Clementine sat herself down in the snow, and could feel the snow already getting her jeans wet. "I'm gonna go check it out Clem. Get out your gun, and stay put here with Alvie, you got that?"

Clementine frowned. All she could think about was Kenny getting shot or not coming back. The thought of him dying and leaving her made her sick to her stomach. "Kenny . . . please be careful . . ."

Kenny looked at her with his one good eye, the other covered by a dirty makeshift eye patch they'd scarped up from a combination of bandages, and cloth. His dark brown eye seemed a bit saddened. "Clem . . . if something happens, you get back to Wellington. Got it?"

Clementine stared back at Kenny. Before she could reply, the man had drawn his handgun and was making his way up to the cabin.

Thank you for reading my Walking Dead Fanfiction, The Dead of Winter! I appreciate any feedback from you guys, and would love to know y'alls thoughts! I'll try to update with multiple chapters per month! This is going to be a long fanfiction, so prepare to be hit with the feels! :)


	2. Episode 1: Chapter 2 Uninvited Guests

**Episode 1: On the Fence**

**Chapter 2: Uninvited Guests**

Kenny held in the cold crisp air in his lungs, barely able to find himself able to let out a breath. It hadn't been the first time that someone had tried to take their cabin, they'd been lucky enough to have never been pushed out yet, but Kenny knew their trip to Wellington would more than likely leave their temporary home wide open for bandits or scavengers.

They won't find shit in there. Kenny thought to himself.

Even so, it was now their home, and Kenny had to keep it safe and sound, for Clementine's and AJ's sake.

But with only two bullets in his handgun and what looked like 3 pairs of feet, Kenny was outnumbered no matter how he looked at it.

The path leading up to the cabin was open and provided no places for cover, so he quickly tried to make his way up to the front porch of the wooden cabin. Kenny was shivering partially from the cold but now mostly out of fear. He was half expecting to be shot at any moment now.

Kenny hid himself underneath the small portion of deck space that separated the floor of the cabin from the actual ground of the snow covered prairie. He waited for a few moments, looking out over the large clearing below him, where Clementine and AJ were huddled underneath the wooden bridge. He couldn't see them from up here, and he hoped no one else would be able too. He didn't stop to think about what might happen to him, as he quickly climbed the wooden steps that led to the cabins deck. His footsteps were as silent as he could make them, with his body feeling heavy and the man already feeling exhausted, it still seemed to make a considerable amount of noise.

Take one hostage, shoot the other two, and then deal with the last one…

Kenny waited behind the screen door for a moment, listening. He heard the muffled sound of heavy footsteps from somewhere inside. He listened for a little longer, and could tell that only one person seemed to be moving around. He heard nothing else, no voices, no nothing as the heavy footsteps abruptly ended.

Kenny waited a moment longer, and the footsteps were slower this time, almost as if they were trying to be quieter. Kenny prepared himself, kneeling in front of the screen door, he silently opened it, managing to not let it make a single squeak or screech. He held it open with his rump, as he prepared to stand, reaching for the door handle and slowly turning it. It was unlocked. In one quick movement Kenny opened the door as he stood, lunging into the cabin with his gun drawn. Despite having only one eye, Kenny was still a fair enough shot.

The motion of opening the door was so quick, that it barely made a sound, only the sound of muffled air as the bulky wooden door swung open.

Kenny quickly looked around, taking note of his surroundings.

The entrance of the cabin was large, and spanned nearly the entire size of the one-story cabin itself. The entrance and the living area was separated by nothing, as two large couches and two recliners were settled around a large fireplace. On one of the couches, Kenny saw what appeared to be a backpack and a rifle. The rifle was of decent size, and the backpack looked to be old and worn. It had a few decorations on it, maybe noting to the owner's own personality. He was too far to make any of them out though, and he quickly turned his sight to the sound of something again.

In the kitchen area, he heard the clunky footsteps. The feet sounded large, and loud as they thumped their way out.

"Dad!?" A female voice sounded off roughly. It was somewhat raspy, and even a bit shaky.

Kenny aimed his gun at the entryway of the kitchen, as a heavily clothed woman walked out in his view. She didn't notice him immediately, but when she did, her eyes widened and her body froze. Quickly however Kenny noticed their arm slowly moving towards the holstered handgun on their hip.

"Don't even think about it." Kenny snarled as he aimed the gun at her head.

The woman stared back, clenching her teeth and Kenny could see her whole body shivering. Her hand was stiff as it stopped just short of the handgun on her hip, comfortably resting in a nice leather holster.

"Where's your friends?" Kenny demanded, he furrowed his one good eye at her. There was no response from the woman. "Did you fuckin' hear me? Where are the others?"

"I . . ." The woman continued to stand, frozen. She took a step back.

"Don't you fuckin' move!" Kenny growled.

"Please . . . I . . . we don't want any trouble . . ." The woman's voice was shaky and breaking. "I'm . . . we were just-looking for somewhere to stay and-we didn't know! We thought this place was abandoned!"

"Well, it's not." Kenny took a step closer to her. "Now answer me, where the hell are the other two?"

"They're . . . they're out . . . but-they'll be back . . ." The woman's demeanor began to change, she seemed to be trying to act a bit intimidating.

Kenny narrowed his eye at her, feeling his brow rubbing on the makeshift eye patch as he gritted his teeth into a snarl. "Get over on the couch."

The woman stared at him, then at the couch. "What?"

"You heard me." Kenny walked up to her. "Do anything funny, and I'll shoot."

The woman continued to stare at him, her face was flushed it appeared, her eyes were wide and as blue as they could be. They looked a little teary, and Kenny half expected the woman to start crying. "They'll be back . . . so . . . just let me take my things, and go! Okay?"

Kenny walked over to her, his gun pointed at her, and grabbed the gun from her holster, and ejected the clip. It felt full as he held the cold clip in his hand, he put it in his jacket pocket. "The rest of your friends this heavily armed?" Kenny asked, pointing at the rifle of hers.

The woman's stand-offish demeanor began to intensify, and she looked ready to pounce. "Yes, they are. And they'll shoot if they think you're going to so much as touch me."

Kenny gritted his teeth at her. They stood, staring each other down for a few moments. "Take off any other weapons you got on ya."

The woman began to back away again.

"I said, take off your fuckin' weapons!" Kenny barked at her.

The woman looked away, as she reached into the inside of her jacket, pulling out a large pocket knife, decorated in camo. She dropped it on the ground and it made a loud metal thunk as it landed on the wooden floors.

"Anything else?" Kenny questioned.

The woman didn't answer, but instead kept her eye on Kenny as she sat down on the couch. Kenny lurched for her backpack and rifle, placing them close to the fireplace, and far from her reach. The woman was staring him down, scanning him almost as if she was ready to lurch at him.

"Just let me go . . ." She begged, holding her hands up for him to see. "We don't want any trouble, please . . . Just let me go, and we won't bother you again."

"Where are they?" Kenny demanded. "I'm not asking again!" Kenny began to look about the room, seeing what he could use to restrain the woman or tie up her hands. He looked over the room, and saw nothing he could use. He began to go for the woman's backpack, but she lurched up from the couch and Kenny aimed his gun at her. "Sit down!"

The woman stared at him. Kenny looked her over, and saw that she was wearing a belt on her jeans. He grunted to himself, then spoke, "Take off your belt."

"What the fuck? Hell no!" The woman growled fiercely. "I'd rather die before you do anything to me! So shoot me dammit if that's what you're planning on doing!"

"Don't flatter yourself girl," Kenny understood why the woman reacted the way she did, but still felt a bit embarrassed to ask her to do something so obviously perverted. "I don't want none of whatever you got. Take the damn belt off, I'm tying your hands up."

"Just let me go-"

"If I let you go you'll just bring your 'friends' back here and take my place. I ain't letting you go nowhere!"

"They'll be back . . . do you really want them to find us like this? Me at gunpoint? They'll shoot you! They won't even care who you are or who you're with!"

Kenny and the woman continued to stare each other down.

After a few tense moments, Kenny made his way closer to her, standing a few feet in front of her, "Take off the damn belt. I ain't askin' ya again."

Clementine felt her whole body shuddering, her very core was rattling it felt like. From the mix of the bone chilling cold and the fear of hearing a gunshot or a whole fire fight begin, Clementine was terrified. She held AJ closer to her body, closing her eyes as she tried to calm herself.

"Please be okay . . ." Clementine whispered repeatedly to herself. After everything that she and AJ had been through with Kenny, before the events of meeting the Cabin group and after losing their old group, Clementine could barely stomach the thought of losing another person she cared for.

After what felt like an hour, Clementine heard the muffled sound of distant voices. She stopped breathing, as her lungs felt like they'd turned to stone. Readying her handgun, Clem tried to shelter AJ in her jacket.

It wasn't long before the voices were much clearer, and much closer. She could barely hear them over the sound of her heart pounding.

"Even if we have the shelter from this cabin, there aren't gonna be many places to scavenge for supplies." An older voice gruffly mentioned. "That's only one of our problems that are taken care of . . ."

"But you and Zoey can still hunt here, right? I mean, there will be meat and game . . . right?" Another voice, also male but much younger it sounded.

The two men continued to banter between one another as they continued to approach from the opposite end of the bridge. Clem could hear the crunching of the snow beneath their feet. That same crunching she had tried so hard to focus on just a few minutes earlier, now felt like a death sentence slowly approaching her.

The moment that the sound of the crunching snow turned into the heavy pounding of feet on the wooden bridge made Clementine's heart stop. She squeezed AJ closer to her body.

What do I do? What do I do?!

Clementine knew that the spacing of the planks of the bridge were far too close together for the men to be able to peek at her, so if was safe to assume they weren't going to be able to see her and AJ right beneath their feet. Clementine squeezed her eyes shut, thinking on what she should do. All she could think to try and do was leave AJ alone underneath the bridge, leaving him with the supplies while she tried to take two shots at the men as they walked up to the cabin.

Clementine looked down at the baby, feeling her resolve strengthen, knowing she'd had to at least try to do something. For her sake, and AJ's sake, and Kenny's as well.

As the footsteps came over her, she watched the bits of snow and water thump out from between the crevices of the planks, falling down onto the slightly less snow covered ground and the frozen over stream. Suddenly a watery clump of melted snow fell from between the planks, landing on herself and on AJ's face. The sudden icy cold feeling on the baby's slightly warm body that was tightly nestled and wrapped in the blanket made him fairly upset. He let out a slight sputter of a cry, then began to cry loudly.

Clementine held AJ closer to herself, trying to comfort him or muffle his cries.

"What the hell?" The gruffer voice sounded immediately at the sound of the baby's cry. Both men stood still in their spot right above her.

"Was that . . . a fuckin' baby?" The other man sounded off in disbelief. Suddenly their footsteps were quickly pounding overhead.

Clementine huddled her body over AJ, trying to soften the noise. But quickly it became clear that AJ was too unsettled by the cold substance that had fallen on his face, and he was getting ready to go into a full out tantrum.

"Put the gun down kiddo . . ." Clementine snapped to look at the voice of a man now leaning down beside her, hiding behind the bridge as he barely peeked at her.

Clementine stared at the man. She scanned his face, seeing a face that seemed calm and controlled. His already smaller face was hiding behind his big bushy beard and moustache that were curly and tangled, his eyes were a dull green and bordering grey, they were rough, but not menacing. Clementine stayed, motionless. "Who are you?"

The man thought for a moment, as he looked at her gun, and then back at her face. "Daniel. My names Daniel kiddo. And who are you?"

Clementine continued to stare at the man. She was barely able to force the words from her mouth. "It's Clementine . . ."

"And, that baby there. He your little brother?" Daniel continued to keep his body sheltered behind the bridge. Knowing that Clementine could not reach around that far to shoot him.

"Shit, a kid and a baby!?" The other voice was oddly excited. It almost reminded her of the moment she had met Omid.

Clementine then caught a glimpse of something in Daniel's hand. A large black rifle.

Another few moments of silence, Daniel continued to look at her. "You got anyone lookin' after you? Your parents, maybe, a guardian?"

Clementine remember Kenny inside of the cabin suddenly. She thought for a moment screaming for him might make him come barreling out of the house, running towards the bridge. But then she remember the last time she'd tried that technique, and how things had ended . . .

"There's someone watching you . . ." Clementine began, her voice was harsh.

Daniel thought for a moment, and blinked at her, "Then why'd they leave you here? Are you bait for them or something?"

"You're with the group in the cabin?" Clementine questioned.

"The group in the cabin?" Daniel repeated her words a bit more harsh this time. He thought for a moment more, then his face turned into a serious and mean look. "Did someone go into that cabin?!"

Clementine remained quiet, she thought of what to say next. "I'm with a group, and they're armed."

Daniel hissed suddenly, "Dammit! Zoey, god dammit!" Daniel suddenly reached for Clementine's gun in a quick and violent movement. It was so fast that Clem barely felt the handgun ripped from her grasp.

"I ain't got time to play games kiddo, you're telling your friends to let my girl go!" Daniel motioned her out from underneath the bridge. "These people you're with, better be nice people. Cause they sure as hell don't want to be anything else right now . . ."

Thank you for reading Ch. 2 of my fan fiction! Please leave a review on what you think so far, I appreciate y'alls feedback!


	3. Episode 1: Chapter 3 Exchange

**Chapter 3: Exchange**

The bearded man binding Zoey's wrists did not do the act delicately. When he tightened the belt and latched the belt buckle, Zoey's hands were so tightly locked together in the knot of her belt that it was cutting off the circulation to her hands. She avoided looking the one eyed man in the face while he did the act. The man was a little tall, and his big hands looked to belong to a strong and rough body. She could also smell his body odor, which in the cold weather was not as bad an affront to her nose as an extremely hot day would've assaulted her with.

Every part of her body was on full alert, her muscles were tense and spazzing, and her heart was about to beat out of her chest it felt like. She was thinking a million miles a minute, wondering how she could get herself out of this. She was looking for a quick and easy weapon, but the man had picked up the pocket knife she'd dropped on the floor behind the couch, and the empty handgun of hers was now sitting next to her backpack and rifle next to the fireplace. He was quickly moving from room to room now, looking for any other people she assumed.

Zoey prayed to herself that her father Daniel and their companion Ryan would be back soon. She was mad at herself more than anything for letting herself even get into this mess. How could she have been so careless?

Zoey felt herself wanting to cry, more out of frustration than fear.

_So stupid! Dammit Zoey how could you get yourself into this?!_

She could almost hear her father's stinging words over her own inner self screaming at her. After the man had finished scanning the one story cabin, looking through each room quickly, he returned to the living area. Zoey turned to look at him, but when he caught her glance she quickly looked away. She began to shiver now, triggered by the bone-chilling cold of the outside and also out of her fear and anger, it was all returning in full force.

"There were three tracks leading up to the house. Where are the other two dammit?" The man had an incredibly hick sounding accent, which if it hadn't have been for the situation, would've made her feel a bit calmer. The familiar way of speaking, it reminded her of her home and it's people, before this had all began . . .

"I told you, they're out. And when they come back, they're not gonna like finding me tied up like this." Zoey began, she refused to look at him.

The man suddenly was standing in front of her, his gun was ready, but not aimed at her body. "What are y'all? Scavengers, bandits? What're y'all even looking for out here?"

"What everyone else is. Shelter, food, safety." Zoey commented back, she looked up at him. His worn face was still frozen in a snarl. His face was incredibly rough looking, with a myriad of scars all over it. They still looked a bit recent. "We're looking for a place called Wellington."

Suddenly the man's face almost became sorrowful. He blinked his one eye and looked at her, this time, his eye really seemed to connect to her, no longer blinded by anger.

"What?" Zoey asked, she felt herself becoming even more unsettled by this look. "What . . . why're you looking at me like that?"

The man looked away, shaking off the sorrow in his face. He looked back at her, his expression was still tough, but not furious like before. ". . . You're outta luck girl, Wellington's-"

"We have your girl and the baby!" A menacingly gruff voice hollered from outside. Zoey instantly recognized it as her father's voice.

Zoey and the man both turned to look towards the front door, the place where the voice seemed to be coming from.

"Clem? Alvie?" The man desperately whispered to himself. He pulled the clip he'd taken from her gun out of his pocket, seeing what caliber it was. He quickly dropped the magazine from his own handgun, and slapped her own nearly full one into his handgun, as the gun instantly slammed a bullet into the chamber. Then in an instant the man grabbed her arm, violently pulling her up and off the couch.

Zoey yelped as he did this, feeling her arm nearly yanked out of its socket. "Don't touch me you fuckin' bastard!" The man then put one arm around her neck, holding her to his body as he pressed the gun on the side of her head.

"Quit your strugglin'!" The man growled in her ear, she could feel his coarse beard hair brush against her ear and his breath travel down her neck.

Quickly the man was moving them both to the front door, "Open the door." He demanded. Zoey looked out the door, and saw her father and Ryan, and in front of them a little girl holding something in her arms. Her father and Ryan were both holding guns, and they both looked like they were holding them to the little girls back.

_Oh God no! Please don't let this happen!_

Zoey clumsily opened the door, and then the man pressed her into the screen door, flinging it open with his hand that was holding onto his handgun.

His arm around her neck and underneath her chin tightened, and she felt her throat and windpipe almost unable to draw in any air. She gasped for breath, but was barely able to take any in. The man put the cold steel of the gun up to her temple once more. She could hear what sounded like a baby crying, and her heart nearly leaped out of her chest.

"Clementine! Are you alright?" The man called out, his voice was loud and frantic.

"Kenny!" The voice of what Zoey assumed to be the little girl sounded off. She too sounded a bit frantic, but not as much as the man Zoey assumed was Kenny.

Zoey grabbed Kenny's arm around her throat. Trying to speak, "Can't-bre-!"

Kenny gave her a rough jolt as he moved out further towards them. "Don't you fuckin' hurt my kids!"

"Take your hands off my girl. . ." Zoey heard her father snarl, and the quiet storm inside of him beginning to stir. All Zoey could think now was how much pain this man was about to be in if he hurt her any further, how her father was going to rip him apart. "Your 'kids' are fine . . . so take your hands. Off. My. Girl. . . _Now."_

"Da-"Zoey tried to call out, but Kenny gave her another squeeze which cut her off immediately.

"Send over my kids. And I'll send over your girl." Kenny demanded sharply. His hold on her neck was growing harder by the second.

Zoey felt herself panicking, the feeling of not being able to breathe . . . She began clawing at the man's arm. "Let-Go!"

Clementine was clutching the crying baby to her chest tightly, feeling her legs shaking, mixed with fear and the feeling of being nearly frozen it felt like. The wind was beginning to pick up, and it was bombarding them all with sharp gusts of freezing wind. She looked up at the woman Kenny had as his hostage. She was desperately clawing at his arm around her neck with her bound hands, and Clementine could tell she was panicking.

"Kenny, you're . . . you're choking her!" Clementine felt that panic returning in her gut as well. They had been so lucky not to come across any trouble in their two months of surviving their encounter with Luke, Carver, Jane and the others. Clementine's mind returned to that fight between Kenny and Jane, that uncontrollable anger. It had resurfaced.

Kenny seemed to ignore her. "Send my kids first! Then I'll let you have this one back."

"Kenny, please!" Clementine didn't particularly care what happened to the woman whom Clementine believed to be Zoey, but seeing Kenny unnecessarily murder another woman wasn't something she could bare to see happen again.

The man seemed to think for a moment more, but was unmoving.

Suddenly Clementine felt something thin but solid push her forward, as she assumed Daniel gave her a slight shove with his rifle. She jolted forward a bit.

"Get to movin' kid." The man Daniel growled at her.

Clementine slowly began to walk forward, feeling that the distance between her and Kenny were miles apart. She was expecting any moment now to be shot, the familiar painful feeling that was by far one of the worst experiences of her life.

When she reached the top of the steps of the cabin, Clementine quickly moved herself up and stood close to Kenny. Clementine could hear the woman wheezing, gasping for breath. She looked up at him, his eye was focused down at the two men, whom in turn had their guns at the ready.

"There, you got your kids. Now, let my daughter _go_." Daniel demanded, his voice was low, but his tone was incredibly fierce. Clementine had heard some angry voices before, but this man was by far one of the worst.

Kenny looked down at Clementine, "Where's our supplies? And the girls gun?"

The younger man standing next to Daniel gave him a nervous glance, then pulled something out from his backside. Ryan held out Clementine's handgun. "The supplies . . . they're under the bridge."

Suddenly Zoey let out a desperate gasp, and it sounded as if she was beginning to cry.

"Let her go _God Dammit_!" Daniel hollered sound loudly that they all jumped.

"Kenny!" Clementine begged again, "You're gonna choke her!"

Kenny thought for a moment, and slowly loosened his hold on Zoey's neck, then he let his hand underneath her neck fall down to her chest, were he held onto her. He then aimed his gun down at the older man, Daniel. "This cabin is ours. And we don't exactly like to share it with strangers, or intruders. We find any of you sneaking around this place again, and we'll shoot."

"Is that so? We've been here all day, and you just _now_ showed up." Daniel had his rifle raised up now aiming at Kenny. "_Is_ this really _your_ place? What are you doing dragging a little girl and a baby around in this part of the countryside? You're just as lost as we are, aren't ya buddy?"

"You girl here, Zoey? She mentioned y'all looking for a place called Wellington. Well guess what _buddy_, your little safe haven you're trying to find, isn't taking on new members. We just found that out yesterday." Kenny hollered back.

"What!? You-you can't be serious!?" The young man shrilly exclaimed. "Wellington . . . it's . . . it can't be . . ."

Clementine felt a twinge of sorrow as she listened to the exchange. That feeling of finding out that the place you'd been risking life and limb to find, only to find out that you couldn't even make it in. "It's true. We've been rejected . . . twice now."

Daniel slowly lowered his rifle, Clementine assumed his body was shocked by the recent news, and his strength was leaving him. Suddenly his shoulders sunk, and his rifle was now pointing down at the ground. Ryan too lowered his own weapon.

Suddenly Kenny let go of Zoey, giving her a push away from himself. She collapsed to the ground in front of them. She was gasping for air.

For a few moments, all of them stood, silent, motionless.

"Are . . . are you sure?" The woman Zoey began to question. She was shaking her head, her whole body shivering. "Wellington . . . it's . . . it turned y'all away? But . . . how . . . how could they just . . . turn people away?"

"They . . . said they were full." Clementine began, Zoey turned to face her, her eyes looked wet and red. "They turned us away the first time. But they gave us some supplies."

"It's a two day hike out there." Kenny added, his anger seemed to have settled. "You start heading out there now, you might get yourselves there by tomorrow night."

"Fuck . . ." Zoey quietly whispered. She held her face in her hands.

"Clem, put AJ inside, then bring out the backpack and rifle next to the fireplace." Kenny solemnly ordered. "Tell your boy to get the duffle bag underneath the bridge and bring it back up here."

Daniel straightened his back as he seemed to come back to reality. He looked at the man next to him, "Ryan, do what he says."

Clementine looked up at Kenny, as he kept his gaze focused on the three people in front of him. She sighed, then turned as she made her way into the cabin, hearing what she thought sounded like muffled sobs coming from the woman crumpled to the ground in front of Kenny.

Kenny watched as the young man trudged through the snow, making his way down to the bridge and retrieving the duffle bag full of supplies. As the young man did this, the older man stood, motionless, almost frozen where he stood. The woman just as his feet, was trying to stop herself from losing it.

They all remained silent, as Kenny could hear Clementine just behind him, as the contents in the backpack that belonged to the woman all jangled and clashed together.

Clementine came to his side, Kenny grabbed the rifle. "Here, take your backpack." The woman turned slightly, and Clementine sat it down next to her. The woman then looked up at him, her expression was angry at first, but then she just sighed and closed her eyes.

"Do you know of any other place to stay? Have y'all seen any other cabins, maybe, a rest stop? Anything where we could stay for the night?" The woman's voice was desperate.

"Whatever y'all passed to get this far, that's about all we know of." Kenny inspected her rifle a bit, it was a nice semi-automatic rifle with a scope on it and a few other attachments that added a fair amount of weight to the lightweight rifle. He ejected the clip, then pulled the hammer back as a bullet came flying out. As the woman took her backpack and sluggishly put it on, she stood, looking at him with sorrowful blue eyes. She was a woman whom seemed to wear her heart on her sleeve.

Kenny and the woman, Zoey looked at each other for a few moment, and Kenny felt himself soften just a bit. He handed her the empty rifle back, breaking his eye contact with her. She took it limply. "You best be get movin' if you want to find some shelter before night fall." Kenny then handed her the light and nearly empty rifle magazine. She took it, looking at it as she took a heavy breath.

"Here's the duffle bag. . ." The younger man, Ryan said as he remained at the older man's side.

"Drop it at the steps." Kenny demanded, he looked at the woman Zoey as she didn't budge from where she stood.

"Where's my handgun?" She questioned flatly.

"I put it in the backpack. . ." Clementine mentioned quietly. "But it was empty when I found it."

"Oh I know where the clip is." Zoey quickly snapped back as she looked at Kenny, she narrowed her brow. "We didn't take anything of yours. So I'd like my magazine back."

Kenny gave her a stern glare right back. He thought for a moment, then released the magazine from the chamber, handing it to her roughly. "Her, take it."

The woman stared at him for a moment longer, quickly stuffing the magazine in the pocket of her large camo jacket. She then turned her gaze to Clementine, her eyes softening. Kenny kept his gaze firm on Zoey.

Suddenly the man Daniel began to cough violently, hacking as his whole body heaved in an intense cough and he almost crumpled to the ground.

"Dad!" Zoey called out as she quickly made her way down the steps, her cowboy boots clunking heavily. She ran out to him, standing in front of her father, she grabbed his rifle, and slung it around her shoulder, then grabbed his shoulders as she and Ryan attempted to hold him up through his intense coughing fit. "Just calm down dad, breathe . . ."

"Fuck I know how to breathe Zoe . . ." Daniel hissed between hacks.

"Listen man . . . you're getting worse. . ." Ryan added softly.

"I'm _fine._" Daniel tried to growl, but it only resulted in him coughing even worse, as he finally fell to his knees and onto the cold, hard snow covered ground.

"Dammit . . . dammit . . ." Kenny could hear Zoey mumble as she sunk to the ground with her father, trying to hold him up.

"Is, he okay?" Clementine questioned as the man continued through his coughing fit.

"No . . . no he's not okay . . ." Zoey said as she turned to face Kenny and Clementine. Kenny could see there were tears in her eyes again. "Listen . . . I know we . . . we invaded your house, and things got nasty but . . . my dad, he's sick! He needs a warm place to stay, to rest-"

"Zoe, shut up!" Daniel growled fiercely.

She turned to look at him, then turned back to Kenny and Clementine. "Please . . . please, just let us stay the night." The woman seemed to be close to sobbing. "My dad . . . please just let us stay, just . . . just let him stay! We'll stay out here, but please, just let him get inside, by the fire! We won't ask for anything else, no food, no supplies, we just need shelter, a roof. Anywhere where we aren't out here!"

By now, the woman was sobbing, her voice was raw with emotion, and her face was contorted in a heart wrenching sob. Kenny could see the woman most certainly did wear her heart on her sleeve, and definitely was not good at hiding them.

Kenny lowered his head. For a moment he was taken back to the day he and Clementine had first found Wellington. His own speech to that woman, Edith, begging her to just take Clementine and AJ, of not caring what happened to him. As long as Clementine and AJ, as long as his kids were safe . . .

"Kenny . . ." Clementine's soft yet solemn voice broke his thoughts. "They . . . don't seem like bad people. They didn't threaten me, and they didn't hurt me. Maybe we should let them stay. Just for tonight."

Everyone went silent. As they all stood, hinged on the words Kenny would speak. Whether it be a yes or a no, no one dared to speak. The skies seemed to be getting greyer, the clouds were coming over in a thick, dark haze. Tiny snowflakes appeared in his one good eye, falling onto the ground, outside of their covered deck space. He looked out at the three shivering people.

A woman and her father, and a young man, all slowly looked up at the sky, their faces all painting the same story of despair.

Kenny sighed, looking back at the young girl standing next to him. "Clementine . . . you sure about this?"

Clementine's eyes widened briefly, and then she lowered her head, looking out at the people. Kenny looked out, and saw Zoey staring back at them, she and Clementine seemed to be looking at each other. When she noticed him staring down at them again, she looked up at him. She blinked lazily.

Kenny lowered his head, closing his eye as he rubbed his forehead. "Hand over your weapons. Guns, knives, all of 'em, I want everything on the deck before you go into the cabin."

The woman Zoey's eyes widened, and she titled her head at him. "What . . ?"

"Just for the night. Your weapons, they'll be stayin' with me. And we ain't sharin' any of our supplies. We barely got enough to make it till next week." Kenny added sternly. "Put everything on the deck, then get yourselves inside."

The group of three all stared at him wide eyed and in shock.

"Thank you!" Zoey exclaimed weakly. The exhausted woman gave him a relieved smile. "Thank you so much sir!"


	4. Episode 1: Chapter 4 A Precarious Deal

**Episode 1: On the Fence**

**Chapter 4: Precarious Deal**

Clementine was surprised to have seen the people so willingly hand over all of their things. Their backpacks sat in a pile on the deck as Zoey proceeded to hand over all of their handguns, rifles, and knives or blunt objects that could be used as weapons over to Kenny. All the while she avoided looking at him in the eye. She cleared all of the guns of their ammunition, and then placed all of their clips or lose ammo into their backpacks.

After they'd given over everything, Kenny instructed Clementine to take the backpacks up to his room. They were all very light, filled with mostly metal objects that clanged together when she moved. Kenny took all of the weapons, and instructed the three to go into the living room and sit on the couch. While Daniel was the most hesitant to do anything Kenny asked, he eventually complied, but not without giving both Kenny and his daughter Zoey nasty looks.

When they all piled inside, Kenny and Clem took the strangers things into Kenny's room.

"Clem, you're sleepin' in here tonight. Get your things in here, alright?" Kenny instructed as he went about the room, hiding the weapons and placing them throughout the place sparingly. She placed their backpacks in the large closet in his room.

"Okay . . ." Clem answered a bit unsure of the notion. She felt a bit strange at the idea of sharing a room with Kenny, after she'd been given her own room in the cabin albeit right next to his. She quickly took what little she'd left behind in her room and took her things into Kenny's room, a large master bedroom with one of the biggest beds she'd ever seen in her life. They'd fashioned a makeshift crib for AJ out of some things they'd found in the cabin, he was currently settling himself down a bit from his unexpected awakening by the snow.

Suddenly they heard some more hacking coming from inside the living room area, down the long hallway it echoed all throughout the house. Kenny cursed to himself, "Dammit that guy better not be bitten . . ."

"He doesn't seem like he's been bitten . . ." Clem added as she placed her things on the large clothes dresser. "Usually they look . . . sicker than he does."

"God dammit . . ." Kenny said to himself. He looked at Clementine. "Make sure you have your gun ready, we don't know if this guy could turn. And by the sound of it, it oughta be any minute now."

"Kenny!" Clementine whispered a bit frightened.

Kenny sighed, and his face softened, "I'm sorry Clem, but we gotta be ready, if that's how it is."

Clementine felt her heart sink a bit. She took her handgun off the dresser, placing it on the backside of her jeans. "Yeah . . . I know."

Kenny had his own handgun pulled out as well, he went over to the woman's backpack, rummaging through it and pulling out the almost full clip. He dropped his own magazine, and clicked hers in.

"Alright then . . . let's go talk to these people . . ." Kenny didn't sound the least bit excited about it.

The two made their way back into the living room, when the woman was leaning over the fireplace. She was placing what little firewood Kenny and Clementine had left into the pit full of black and grey ash.

"Ryan, could you get him to settle down a bit, please?" Zoey ordered with a stern voice. She hurriedly stood up straight however when she saw Kenny and Clementine walking back into the room, she popped back up, almost as if she was in trouble. "Hey, is this all the firewood you guys have?"

"We've been gone for two days genius, yes that's the only firewood we have." Kenny commented back, he walked over to the three of them all huddled around Daniel on the couch. "What the hell's wrong with him? What kinda sickness does he have? Was he bitten?"

Zoey stared Kenny right in the eye, "No, he's not bitten!"

"Listen girl, you think you can pull that kinda crap on us? We'll know if he's bitten soon enough if you're lying, so I suggest you tellin' me the truth now before we find you with your throat ripped out!" Kenny was getting aggressive, and it was making Clementine nervous.

Clementine could see Zoey was ready to lash right back, but Daniel beat her to it. "I haven't been bitten boy . . ." Daniel's voice was incredibly raspy and weak. Clementine looked at the man as he held his chest, trying to breathe. She continued to hide behind the couch somewhat, from where she was standing, she had a good enough angle to shoot any of these people if anything happened.

"I ain't no boy." Kenny growled back.

"And I ain't no girl. So it looks like we'll just have to deal with the name calling for now, huh?" Zoey gave Kenny a mean look. They glared at each other again.

"If he's not bitten, what's wrong with him?" Clementine asked, interrupting the thick silence between them all.

Zoey let out a sigh, "My dad got the flu or something nasty a few weeks back. We didn't have any real medicine to give him, so it got pretty bad. He's just still getting over it, we're just lucky it didn't turn into pneumonia."

"You're also lucky you found me." The young man added, he was sitting next to Daniel, but had his arms folded and seemed a bit disengaged from the whole conversation.

"Oh . . . yeah . . ." Zoey added softly. "Ryan also helped us, you were an EMT before all this shit started. Right?"

"Seems like it's the only thing I'm good for anymore." Ryan added with a sigh as he sat back into the couch.

"That's the only reason we kept you around, boy." Daniel added. Clementine didn't know the man well enough to know if he was serious or joking about it.

"Listen, I'm, sorry . . . things got off to a rough start." Zoey began, she looked back at Kenny, and she shrugged her shoulders. "If we knew someone was occupying this place, we would've just kept on moving. We're not bandits . . . or bad people . . ."

Clementine noticed a strong sense of hesitancy with her last few words. Clem felt herself becoming a bit unsure now. Kenny seemed to pick up on it too.

"Listen, I don't give a shit who you people are or what you've done, but when you're in my house, under my rules, you do what I say when I say it. Got it?" Kenny roughly commanded at all of them.

The three people were silent, nobody answered. Clementine could sense Kenny getting tense and upset.

"Yes . . . I understand." Zoey finally answered, she sounded defeated. Whatever sense of power she felt she had in this cabin, Clementine knew she was handing over. "Well . . . can I ask you your name? I mean, without you pointing a gun at me?"

Kenny merely glared at her. Zoey blankly stared back.

"My names Clementine. And the baby . . . he's AJ." Clementine finally spoke up, hoping to make them all feel a bit less tense and try and get them to be a little more civil with one another.

Zoey smiled over at Clementine, it was a small smile, but a genuine one nonetheless. "Clementine, and AJ. Nice to meet you, I'm Zoey. But you can call me Zoe, if it's easier." She looked down at Daniel and Ryan, "This is Daniel, and he's my dad. And that's Ryan, we've been traveling together for a few weeks now." Zoey introduced the two men to Clementine, then looked back at Kenny. She thought for a moment, and held out her hand. "And you are . . ?"

"Listen, I don't see how learnin' each other's names is gonna get us anywhere. Y'all are gonna be gone by in the morning." Kenny commented, he folded his arms and looked down at Daniel. "We got an extra bedroom. Down the hall, looks like you 'ought a get this old man in there for some shut eye."

"Yeah . . ." Zoey said quietly. She lowered her arm down to her side, and then moved over to her father's side. "C'mon y'all, let's get some sleep."

Zoey and Ryan helped Daniel up to his feet, despite him seemingly obviously upset about it. He didn't seem to enjoy other people doing things for him. When they got him to his feet, they began to make their way down the hallway, Daniel was leaning almost exclusively on Zoey.

The sun was setting, and had also been obscured by the thick clouds rolling in, leaving the house almost completely dark. As the three carefully made their way down the hall, and into the bedroom, Kenny continued to stand with his arms folded and head hanging low.

"Clem," Kenny began quietly, he turned and looked at her. "I don't want you to spend a moment alone with any of these people, just because they act nice, doesn't mean they're good people."

"I know . . ." Clementine answered back softly. Both of them had been through far too much to be able to trust strangers like this, but at some point Clementine felt they were bound to meet good people again one day, good people like Luke, Pete, Walter, Sarita and Edith. She just hoped that these people could at least be a little nice.

"C'mon, we've had a long two days, let's get some sleep too." Kenny said, and the two made their way into his room.

As they settled in for the night, Clementine felt a bit of awkwardness at the idea of sharing a bed with Kenny. Despite the bed being large, and there was more than enough room between them, it was still a bit strange. The cabin had been inhabited by a family before them, and they'd left a fair amount of clothing and items behind it seemed, but it had been apparent that scavengers from Wellington had come through the place and taken a few things for the large community. Clementine, Kenny, and AJ had been lucky enough however to have found a few different outfits, including clothing they could use as pajamas and clothing they could use as every day wear. They no longer had to suffer wearing the same outfit 24/7, day after day after day.

When they both clamored in under the covers, Clem was sleeping on the side of the bed that was closer to the window, and closer to AJ. Kenny was sleeping on the side of the bed that was closest to the door.

"In case these people try to come and take their shit back . . ." Kenny explained as he lifted up the covers and began to settle in. "Clem . . . you got your gun next to you on the nightstand?"

"Yeah . . . but do you really think they'll do something like that?" Clementine asked as she placed her head down on the cold pillow, she was shivering as she curled herself up into a ball underneath the quilted covers.

Kenny lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling. He closed his eye it seemed in the pitch black darkness, and placed a palm on his forehead. He slicked back his thick matted hair that had been crimped under the constant pressure of his cap. "We can't take any chances Clem. Not even if they seem like good people. We've been through this shit too many times Clem. . . Mike, Bonnie . . . and Jane. All of them 'seemed' nice or even helped us out, but they showed their true colors eventually."

Clem lay quietly, huddled up in the covers. Just thinking about all of them made her feel saddened. After everything they'd been through, they'd all just . . . "You did too Kenny. But I still trusted you."

Kenny's good eye popped open, he almost looked over at Clem, but instead flipped over on his side, his back now facing her. "Goodnight Clem . . ."

Clem closed her eyes, feeling a bit pained by her words, but she knew if she didn't remind him of how close he was to losing it, he might just really lose it all one day. That thought alone made it impossible for her to even catch a moment of rest.

After what felt like a few hours of tossing and turning in the bed, Clementine was still unable to get minute of sleep. She was beginning to play out so many things in her mind. She thought of every new person she'd met, how they'd helped her, how they'd hurt her. How she could tell if they were good or bad. How she could tell if she could trust them. Clementine eventually came to the conclusion that she was a bit happy to meet new people. After being along for two months with Kenny and AJ, it was actually a relief to see new faces, to know other people were alive.

As she toiled with this thought and even tried to chase it out of her mind, Clementine heard what sounded like the creaking of the wooden floors of the cabin. She held her breath in, and looked over Kenny's shoulder, he had now flopped back over onto his back, and Clementine could clearly see the door to their room. She watched, and listened, and eventually saw a faint shadow, darker than the already dark cabin, as it slowly crept past their bedroom. The footsteps were loud as they slowly tiptoed in front of their room. Clementine shot up, looking over Kenny as she watched, waiting for something to happen. She reached over to her nightstand and grabbed her gun, the stinging cold air was crisp on her hand.

The sound stopped briefly in front of her door, and then it picked up once more, continuing to move throughout the cabin.

Clementine continued to sit up in bed, as she listened. She couldn't hear any moaning, so it was safe to assume it wasn't a walker. With her gun still in hand, she silently pulled the covers off of herself, and placed her feet on the ground as she snuck to the door. She grabbed her jacket, and wrapped herself up in its warmth. As quietly as she could, Clementine turned the knob to the door, and slowly she peaked out into the open. She looked out, and heard the crackle of the firewood in the fire place, as well as the dancing shadows cast off the living room's furniture and items in her blurry eyes.

She looked back at Kenny, and then silently opened the door enough for her to walk out into the hallway. She got a better look at the living room, and saw the back of someone's body. A long braid was lying across the persons back, and Clementine felt confident she knew who it was. She hid the gun in her jacket's pocket, closed Kenny's bedroom door, and then wrapped her arms around herself.

With the door making a click, Clementine winced and the woman, Zoey quickly jumped and looked over towards her. Her eyes were wide with surprise, but softened when she saw it was just her.

"Hey . . . sorry . . . I didn't mean to wake you up." Zoey whispered almost too quietly for Clementine to hear her.

"What are you doing?" Clementine asked, her teeth chattering.

"I'm freezing . . . I thought I'd try and warm up a bit by the fire." Zoey answered back, she turned and proceeded to poke at the fire with a small stick.

"That's . . . all the firewood we have." Clementine commented with a bit of annoyance as she made her way over to Zoey and the fireplace. "Kenny wouldn't like you doing this."

"Yeah, well I have a feeling Kenny doesn't like a lot of things." Zoey whispered back, mostly to herself. "Is he always . . . like that?"

Clementine sighed to herself, "It's . . . he's . . . complicated."

"That's one way to describe him I guess." Zoey answered back as she sat on the recliner closest to the fireplace, she huddled up underneath her blanket she'd seemed to pull off of one of the bunk beds in the spare room. "I've met a lot of men like him. They're . . . well . . . they're men."

Clementine sat herself on the couch, and the two sat quietly in the living room, listening to the melodic crackling of the firewood. She looked at Zoey, whom was sitting cross legged in the recliner, wrapped up in the worn, and hole filled faded navy blue blanket.

Zoey caught her looking at her, and Clementine quickly looked away.

"So . . . Clementine . . ." Zoey began, "You . . . how did you . . . get to be with that guy anyway? Are you and AJ related? Is that man a relative or something like that?"

"I met Kenny when this all started. We were . . . with a group. But we got separated. AJ was a baby that was born in another group we were part of . . . and his parents . . . didn't make it." Clementine began, she could faintly feel the heat coming out of the fireplace.

"I'm, sorry Clementine. That can't be easy." Zoey answered back carefully. She was very hesitant with her words. "So, Kenny's . . . okay? He didn't . . . y'know . . . take you away from your own parents or your guardians, did he?"

"No!" Clementine answered back harshly, she glared at Zoey. The woman had big blue eyes and a somewhat long face, the more she looked at her the more she seemed to think she looked nothing like her own 'father'. "Kenny's my friend. I've known him since this all started."

"Okay, okay . . . but listen, it's okay to tell me if something is going on. Like, he kidnapped you or . . . took you away from your real family." Zoey continued to push the subject.

"I said no." Clementine answered more sternly this time. "Why would you think that?"

Zoey looked away, she looked a bit upset now. "Sorry, I just wanted to make sure. You . . . never know who somebody really is . . . until it's too late, y'know?"

Clementine looked back at the fire, she felt herself getting a bit saddened now. "We've been trying to get into Wellington for two months now. But, it's full."

Zoey let out an exasperated sigh. "Damn . . . I bet that was a pretty hard pill to swallow at first. But you three . . . were rejected twice?"

Clementine went silent. She knew every moment that they were out here, their chances only grew slimmer and slimmer, and it was beginning to set in that they had indeed been rejected twice now.

Suddenly Zoey got up, and handed Clementine the navy blue blanket. Clementine looked at her a bit shocked for a moment. "Here, I'm warm enough now."

Clementine thought for a moment, looking at the old blanket.

"It's okay Clementine, my dad didn't touch it, and you won't get sick." Zoey tried to add playfully, but they both knew that wasn't exactly something to joke about.

Clementine took the blanket reluctantly, and wrapped it around herself. It wasn't very soft, but it was thick and warm at least. "Thanks . . ."

"No problem kiddo." Zoey said softly, she smiled at Clementine kindly. "It . . . can't be easy out here for you kids. And besides, you helped me and my group get this place for a night. It's the least I can do to try and help out a bit."

Clementine smiled back at her, and she felt her body becoming a little less tense.

"I'll try and get y'all some more firewood before we leave tomorrow. I was . . . planning on doing that anyways." Zoey said as she leaned in closer to the fireplace. "It wouldn't feel right doing that too you two kiddos, and I'm sure Kenny's got his hands full anyways just looking after you two."

"I think Kenny will want you guys out as soon as he's up." Clementine commented, not trying to make Zoey feel unwelcome, just to give her fair warning.

"Of course he will." Zoey whispered to herself.

The two settled in for another silence, this time Clementine felt herself beginning to doze off finally. Her nerves had been calmed a bit by talking to Zoey, even if she didn't know for sure if this woman was trustworthy, she seemed to at least have a little bit of kindness in her. Sharing a blanket in the freezing cold weather wasn't exactly a small favor. Coupled with their compliance to do what Kenny asked, Clementine actually felt that these people might be decent people. Either that or they somehow sensed how terrifying the wrath of Kenny could be.

"You should go back to your room." Zoey finally said, this jolted Clementine awake from her approaching sleep. "Something tells me Kenny won't like you talking to me. From my experiences . . . it's best not to make guys like him mad."

"Guys like him?" Clem asked a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean . . . it seems like he's got a quick temper. I just . . . I grew up around a lot of guys like him. Most of my own guy friends were like that . . . and my own dad . . ." Zoey trailed off a bit, then looked back at Clementine. "You'll learn how to deal with them though. If you haven't already . . ."

"Kenny can be mean but . . . he's not always like that." Clementine said as she rubbed her eyes.

Zoey seemed to laugh a bit, then she looked up at Clementine. "Yeah . . . I know what you mean. You should get some rest, I promise I won't do anything funny out here, so don't worry."

Clementine yawned, and she lazily stood from the couch. She rubbed her eyes, and handed Zoey the blanket back. "Thank you, for letting me use it."

"No problem, Clementine. Now, get in there before papa bear wakes up and gets all angry." Zoey smiled slyly at her, and gave her a wink.

Clementine gave her a lazy smile. "Papa bear?"

"He looks like a grizzly bear. I'm just sayin'. With that much facial hair, I mean, c'mon?"

"Your dad has a lot of facial hair too." Clementine mentioned. She smiled back at her as they shared a quiet laugh. "Goodnight, Zoey."

Clementine then returned to Kenny's room, finding the 'papa bear' still fast asleep.


	5. Epiosde 1: Chapter 5 A Promise Kept

**Episode 1: On the Fence**

**Chapter 5: A Promise Kept**

Zoey painfully awoke to the sound of her own teeth chattering, her whole body was sore from the constant shivering she endured. She was always incredibly tense and wound up, if not from the constant stress of every threat around her group and herself, but also from the constant feeling of unbearable coldness. She was not cut out for cold weather, or cold places.

And to make matters worse, her stomach was twisting in knots, growling as loudly as she'd heard it in a long time, she felt as if she was starving. As she thought of all these things, she began to wish desperately she could just go back to sleep on the nice warm couch, and maybe just stay here forever, but she remembered she'd promised the little girl Clementine, that she'd get them some firewood before she left.

Zoey sat up, rubbing her eyes and a bit disoriented from having slept on her side the entire night. After a long and deep stretch of her arms and legs, she leaned over and put her cowboy boots back on. She looked outside one of the many windows of the cabin, and saw the sun had already risen. If it wasn't so cold, she would've enjoyed being out there to witness the sunrise.

Barely able to lift herself off the couch, Zoey drug her feet across the wooden floor and into the kitchen area. Rubbing her gloved hands together, she tried to warm them up a bit as she looked throughout the kitchen area. It was a large area, bigger than the room that her father and Ryan were sharing. The bunk beds had been nice for Ryan and her father, but without her own place to sleep, Zoey had opted out for sleeping in the living room for the night.

She looked around the kitchen area for anything, not wanting to go outside to look for firewood without something to protect herself, considering Kenny still had all of their things locked up in his room. She felt her brow furrow at the thought of the man. She wouldn't have felt bad about the firewood being used to keep her warm last night if it wasn't for the fact that those kids needed that warmth, more than she did. After quietly rummaging through a few different drawers, she found a decent sized cutting knife. She placed it in her jacket pocket, and proceeded to the door of the kitchen that led outside. She huffed as she gathered up the motivation to leave the shelter of the cabin.

Quietly she ventured out into the wilderness, growling as the sharply cold air hit her body. She pulled up her hoodie over her head, hoping it could at least offer a bit of protection from the cold morning air. She walked off the deck, looking out at the fresh blanket of snow that had been created overnight. If it wasn't so cold, she thought she might enjoy the sight. A few yards away from the cabin was a dense forest area, the same one that her group had tried to avoid trudging through the last few days they'd been traveling. Making her way to the tree line, she began to collect branches of all sizes off the ground, she had to dig through the stinging cold of the snow to get to a few twigs and pull out some of the pieces that had been frozen to the ground. She took as much as she could carry, marching her way back to the cabins patio that surrounded the entire building, and placed the firewood quietly next to the kitchen door. She continued this for a few more minutes, until she'd collected three big armfuls of firewood.

Happy with the amount she'd collected, she huffed to herself, "That's more wood than I even burned last night, hopefully that jackass won't yell at me."

After dusting off the snow and mud off of her clothes, she made her way back inside the house.

"Dammit where the hell is it?" Zoey could faintly here a disgruntled voice say as she entered the kitchen. She walked inside, and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of the man, Kenny.

"What the hell were you doing out there?" Kenny asked her almost immediately, he was rummaging through the same drawers she had gone through a few minutes earlier. Zoey could see him holding the baby AJ tightly to his body.

"I thought you guys could use some more firewood. So, I was getting y'all some." Zoey answered as she placed her hands into her zipped up hoody's pockets. She felt the knife still inside of it, almost as freezing cold as her fingers had become. "What are you looking for?"

Kenny gave her a bit of an odd look, one that she felt was halfway between his typically angry personality, and then perhaps a bit of softness. "I'm lookin' for something to open this can of food for Alvie."

"Alvie . . ." Zoey repeated, she couldn't help but smile at the soft tone in his voice when he mentioned the child's name. It made her feel a bit better about the man. She suddenly remembered the knife in her pocket. "I'll help you look for something, if you want. Is there a can opener around here, or something?"

"Nah, you don't have to do that." Kenny answered, he sighed and continued to rummage through the cabinets. "I'll get y'alls stuff out in a few. So don't go messin' around with any of our stuff, alright?"

"Okay . . . no rush." Zoey huffed back. She made sure Kenny couldn't see her pull the knife out of her pocket, as she opened a drawer close to her. "Oh, hey, I found a knife. Will uh . . . will it work?"

Kenny turned to face her, he blinked his one good eye. "Yeah, that'll work." He seemed to be a bit skeptical, and he stared her down for a few moments. "You sure you just, found it?"

Zoey turned around to close the drawer and collect herself for a moment. "What? You think I'm gonna steal your silverware?"

Kenny huffed back at her. "Give it here." He walked up to her, holding out his free hand.

Zoey looked at him, "You think holding a knife and a baby at the same time is a good idea?"

Kenny narrowed his eye at her, and snatched the knife from her hand. "I don't think I need a lecture about good ideas from you missy."

Zoey sighed and shook her head, watching as Kenny walked over to the kitchen table. There was a can of something on the table now, as well as a spoon and a dirty old cloth. She watched as Kenny sat himself down, and situated AJ in his lap, the baby was wriggling around lazily, still seeming to get itself awake. Kenny placed the knife on the table, making sure the baby wasn't about to fall out of the chair.

"Here . . ." Zoey said softly, she walked up to the man. He didn't look at her as he grabbed the can and then went for the knife. "Let me do it. You just worry about, Alvie."

Kenny looked up at her for a moment, one hand still wrapped around the now dull kitchen knife, and the other holding onto the can of what looked like some form of baby food. After a moment, he reluctantly handed the items to her. "Alright . . ." He answered hesitantly.

Zoey took the items softly, as Kenny cradled AJ in one arm, situating the dirty cloth on AJ's stomach. Zoey watched as Kenny handled the baby, he had almost uncharacteristically gentle movements as he handled the tiny child. Zoey was shocked by it, hardly able to fathom that sort of thing, coming from the man whom had almost choked her just the night before. But she couldn't help but smile a bit at how he treated the baby.

"He's a cutie." Zoey mentioned as she tried to pry open the can of mashed peas. "How old is he?"

"About 2 and a half months now." Kenny answered, he watched her carefully as she opened the can.

When Zoey made a puncture into the cans lid, she winced at the smell of the food. "Oh . . . wow, is this what it's supposed to smell like?"

"What? You think that's bad?" Kenny gave her a slight laugh. "You ought a be happy you'll be outta here before it comes back later."

"Eww!" Zoey laughed, but her amusement was cut short when she realized that she was about to be outside again, facing the cold once more. "Yeah . . . I guess you're right."

She finished making the punctures into the lid, then proceeded to cut between the holes she'd made. Prying the lid back with her fingers as far back as she could, she handed it back to Kenny. "Here, is this good?"

"Yeah . . . thanks . . ." Kenny added, his tone was borderline friendly.

"No problem." Zoey walked back over to the drawer she'd originally found the knife in, and placed it back in its original spot. "We gotta help each other out . . . y'know?"

Kenny immediately went to feeding the baby AJ the canned food. Zoey watched him from afar, and then sat herself down across from him. The table was of decent size, an old dark wooden table that reminded her of the one in her own home when she was younger.

"You seem really good with him, he must like you a lot." Zoey added. As honest as she was being, she also began to feel it might work to try and 'butter up to' the man, try and get on his good side a bit more. "I bet the eye patch might have something to do with it, it's . . . kinda cool looking."

Kenny gave her a bit of an unamused look, and she smiled nervously at him.

"Sorry . . . I just . . . it's kinda cool. It makes you look really tough." Zoey felt herself beginning to turn a bit red from her embarrassment. If she was trying to get on his good side, talking about his one eyed problem probably wasn't the best idea. "AJ and Clementine . . . I think they're lucky to have you."

Kenny's face grew a bit sorrowful, and he went back to solely focusing on the baby. He gently scooped up the food into the spoon, barely anything on it, as he delicately put the green mush to the child's mouth. At first AJ didn't seem sure what to do with it, and he let out an unhappy cry.

"I know . . . I know . . . shhh, shhh . . ." Kenny whispered as he comforted the baby. "I know it doesn't smell good, and probably doesn't taste good either . . . but it's the best I can do for ya Alvie."

Zoey felt those words tug at her chest. She felt her heart stop for a moment, as an overwhelming sadness hit her. "It can't be easy . . . taking care of them . . . you're . . . a tough man. That's for sure."

Kenny narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, then looked back at AJ.

"After how you reacted yesterday . . . it's pretty clear you really care about them. I don't know a lot of men who would've taken on two kids in like this, even before things turned to shit like they are now." Zoey spoke softly to him, she felt herself beginning to feel empathetic to the man. "I'm sorry . . . it must be . . . so tough."

"We were just lucky enough to find this cabin. It's been the best damn thing that's happened to us in months." Kenny added gruffly. "He wouldn't have made it if it hadn't of been for Clem, and this place."

"And you too." Zoey reminded him. "I'm sure Clem and AJ . . . they both really appreciate you."

"What the hell do you know?" Kenny almost snarled back.

Zoey was taken aback by this comment, feeling and almost instant mood change. She must've struck something deep inside him. "Sorry. I didn't mean any offense . . ." Zoey looked away from the man, feeling herself growing displeased with him once more.

After a few moments of silence, Kenny finally spoke up again. "There's another community, up in a place they call Litchfield . . . that's what Wellington told us at least."

"What? Really?" Zoey responded with a whisper. "Are . . . you three gonna head out that way?"

"It's too cold for us to make that sort of trip. And besides, we don't even know if it's really out there, Wellington even said they hadn't gotten scouts out that far, it was just a rumor some other people who got into Wellington talked about. If I took these kids out there again we'd just be chasing rumors, and I can't put these kids through that shit again . . ."

"Again?" Zoey repeated. "You mean Wellington . . . and now . . . this Litchfield place?" She watched as he continued to feed the baby, expecting him to answer her or at least say something.

"We got a map, it's in my backpack. Maybe we could try and find it on there? See how far out it is?" Zoey started, "And . . . well, maybe I could go out and try and find it, if it's real I'll come back and tell y'all, and if it's bullshit . . . well . . . that solves that rumor, right?"

Kenny gave her an incredulous look. "Oh yeah, like you'd do something like that out of the kindness of your heart? And what, while you're gone you'll leave your dying daddy here?"

Zoey gritted her teeth, "Listen, I don't know what the hell your problem is, but-" Zoey felt herself getting a bit more upset than she thought, she felt herself coming to the verge of tears. "My dad, he won't make it much longer . . . not out here. So excuse me, if I want to keep what little I have left, _safe_. We've made it too fuckin' far for him to just die out here." A few tears had welled up in Zoey's eyes, she wiped them away roughly. She wasn't expecting a shred of sympathy from this man, and she grew angry with herself she'd let herself actually cry in front of him.

Silence settled for a few moments. "Look . . . we've had it rough these past few months . . ." Kenny began, he sounded a bit remorseful almost. He let out a sigh, "I'm . . . I'm sorry, alright?"

"Wellington was my last hope . . . it was the only thing I . . ." Zoey bit her lip, holding back her tears. "Every day, every single day . . . I just told them we'd find it. We'd be safe, we'd be okay. I don't care what happens to me, I just want to save my dad. After everything he's done for me, it's the least I can do for him."

"Don't say shit like that." Kenny whispered, "Your dad wants you to be safe. So don't go sayin' shit like that."

"What the hell would you know?" Zoey fiercely shot back, she was too ready to hurt Kenny now, to ready lash out at anyone. But, it was true. Neither of them really had much right to comment about the others situations.

"What I know is that no dad wants to see their kids give up. So don't you fuckin' start that shit with me girl." Kenny anger was somewhat subdued, which surprised Zoey. It hit her for a moment though. _No dad wants to see their kids give up._

"I'm sorry . . . I didn't mean to say that. I'm just exhausted." Zoey wiped the tears off her cheeks. "I know you've got enough to deal with. And I'm not exactly helping. But . . . I'd like to. If I can, if any of us can."

Kenny gave her another unsettling look.

"I'll help, my dad can too. We're both hunters, and well Ryan's an EMT, and he's helped us so much-"

"What have I to go off of?" Kenny interrupted her. Zoey quieted down and listened to him. "Words don't mean shit nowadays. I can't risk trusting strangers, not when I've got these kids to take care of."

"I had nothing but a gun pointed at my head and a few bruises on my neck to go off of Kenny." Zoey could barely muster the courage to speak these words to him. "But, seeing you with these kids, with Clementine and AJ, I can't help but feel you're not a bad guy. You're a good man. I wouldn't have begged to stay here or handed over my weapons, if I'd have felt any differently."

Kenny went silent once more. AJ seemed to suddenly get a bit upset, and began to cry. Kenny hushed the child, cradling him in his arms as he held on tightly to the baby wrapped in thick cloth. Zoey could practically see the wheels turning in the man's head.

"Even if you don't want to let us stay, or you don't, I still want you to know, I really appreciate you letting us stay last night. We hadn't met anyone so generous, so nice in such a long time. It's getting harder and harder to meet anyone who's willing to help you out." Zoey looked down when she felt her words weren't fazing the man at all. "I know it's hard . . . but . . . I really do want to help. If it means we can learn to trust one another . . . all I'm asking for is a chance."

After a few moments of silence, Zoey felt her stomach twisting in knots, awaiting the excruciating seconds for an answer. Kenny then let out a heavy sigh. "I'll have to ask the girl, see what she thinks."

"Yeah, okay." Zoey held in her excitement the best she could, knowing that they were at just as much a risk to be turned away. But with any luck, the small amount of time they'd spent talking the night before, might just be enough to give her the answer they so desperately needed.


End file.
